Not since the
prelude to the two world wars have there been so much
uncertainty and anxiety within the international system.
The sands are indeed shifting, as the President of the
Assembly stressed at the opening of this sixty-sixth
session (see A/66/PV.1).
The shifts in the struggles for freedom and the
struggles for rights, some of which we in Saint Lucia
take for granted; the shifts in the number of natural
disasters that devastate country after country; financial
meltdowns, increases in the price of energy and food,
and food shortages have all converged and met at a
moment when the challenge to cope weighs upon us
all. However, the weight carried by a small island State
bears down like an elephant on an ant, and although the
ant is capable of carrying many times its own weight, it
would never choose to carry an elephant.
The current world economic and financial
situations are not of our making but they affect us more
than anybody else. It continues to confound us how the
States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), with
the exception of Haiti of course — small island States
like us, with limited resources, limited populations,
limited land mass and small economies — can be
classified as middle-income. With that classification,
we are not eligible for special arrangements in finance
and trade. There must be something wrong with that
classification. We continue to argue that the
methodology employed for such categorization puts
small island developing States (SIDS) at a great
disadvantage in terms of receiving favourable aid and
trade packages, thereby adversely affecting our
development strategies.
The continued attrition of trade preferences at the
multilateral level challenges our very small — and, I
reiterate, very vulnerable — economies and requires
our Governments to employ creative structural
arrangements and adjustments and fiscal exercises to
keep our economies afloat. The present application of
the terms of trade and conditions of aid are very
unfavourable to us.
Emphasis therefore has to be placed on the
consideration of a balanced approach to foreign
investment and environmental integrity, and investors
must not place undue pressure on small States. Rather,
there should be an understanding of our challenges and
our willingness to work in a win-win situation.
Favourable mechanisms for finance and technology
transfer would enable small island States to take
advantage of the benefits that these offer as
prerequisites for sustainable development. This is all
we ask, nothing more — a chance to claim our part.
We stress our vulnerability to natural disasters
and their disproportionate effect on small island
economies, and we seek rapid and meaningful response
mechanisms at the regional and international levels in
order to enable our vulnerable economies to recover as
quickly as possible. Almost every year, gains made
during the first half of the year are eroded in the last
quarter by weather-related phenomena.
Saint Lucia is still recovering from Hurricane
Tomas, which struck the island in October 2010. Let
me take this opportunity to thank those who
contributed so generously to our recovery. Of course,
we will still accept any generous contributions.
Saint Lucia, like other SIDS, recognizes the vital
role that oceans play in national and global economic
development. In light of this, the Government of Saint
Lucia remains committed to ensuring the sustainable
development of both coastal and marine resources.
For a number of years now, Saint Lucia has had
legislation in place that speaks to effective fisheries
management with laws on open and closed seasons for
certain fisheries such as lobsters and, in order to
prevent the capture of juvenile fish, mesh-size limits
for nets and fish-trap fisheries. The Government is also
targeting large pelagic fish and other species not
traditionally harvested by local fishers, in order to
reduce pressure on coastal and reef fishing. In addition,
a number of marine reserves and marine management
areas have been established, with the most well-known
of these being the Soufriere Marine Management
Association, which has been used to inform the
establishment of other marine parks within the
Caribbean and, I may add, globally.
The Government of Saint Lucia has adopted an
institutional framework for integrated coastal zone
management and is working towards ensuring its
successful implementation through a Caribbean coastal
zone management unit and a coastal zone management
advisory committee.
11-51687 8
I dwell on the issue of oceans and seas because
the impacts of climate change and sea-level rise are
real to SIDS, and Saint Lucia, through a number of
projects and programmes, is seeking to build the
island’s resilience to these impacts through the formal
adoption of a national building code and the
development of environmental impact, physical
planning and development regulations.
Nevertheless, Saint Lucia has recognized the
importance of having access to data and models at the
national and local levels in defining and informing the
country’s response to climate change, and in this regard
is taking a number of steps to build the requisite
database by working with various national, regional
and global organizations.
The Caribbean Sea is an important international
shipping route for both tourism and trade. Considered
by the United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP) to be a biodiversity hotspot, the Caribbean Sea
is and will remain our livelihood. It keeps us afloat, but
it can also drown us if we do not manage it properly;
that is what seas do. It therefore needs special
attention, and our Government is promoting an
integrated management approach to the Caribbean Sea
area in the context of sustainable development. We
therefore support the work of the UNEP Caribbean
Environment Programme, and we hope that funding
will be made available to that programme to enable us
to achieve our goals.
For all these reasons, Saint Lucia would like to
call on the international community to ensure that there
is a strong focus on oceans in the preparatory
negotiations for the upcoming United Nations
Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20). We
cannot forget the importance of oceans to SIDS in
providing energy and food security, and to the world as
a whole in regulating our climate. Oceans are a
regulatory mechanism for climate.
As countries worldwide prepare for the Rio+20
Earth summit, we note that the green economy is a
major theme for discussion. Renewable energy and
energy efficiency are at the heart of the green economy.
Petroleum giants like British Petroleum and Shell are
now turning to investments in solar and wind energy.
Countries such as Germany, the Netherlands and Brazil
have positioned themselves as strong proponents of
renewable energy. Sustainable energy technologies
have been and continue to be a subject of significant
research and development, with very promising results.
At the policy level, a number of countries,
including my own, have articulated noble and
ambitious energy policies to steer us into the future. In
negotiations taking place pursuant to the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change,
climate change mitigation is inextricably linked to
sustainable energy development and continues to
generate much debate as State parties seek to find
lasting solutions to the problem of greenhouse gas
emissions.
But while the United Nations endeavours to
promote equity and equality among individual
countries, our capacities are not the same. Countries
like ours yearn to enjoy the benefits of sustainable,
renewable energy sources, but despite having
significant potential for renewable energy, we have not
yet been able to meaningfully develop these resources.
It is therefore imperative that the international
community take decisive action to assist small island
States, isolated as we are, in achieving energy security
through renewable energy and energy efficiency
programmes. Financing is a critical element in the
development of new and renewable forms of energy.
So far, SIDS have largely been overlooked, as
investments are made in larger economies where
greater economies of scale and profits beckon. Even
with the existence of avenues such as the clean
development mechanism, which should also promote
sustainable energy projects, the results have not been
very encouraging for SIDS. We hope that, not too long
from now, that situation may change.
We applaud the efforts and resources put into the
conservation and preservation of the world’s forests to
reverse desertification. We think, however, that
considerable attention should also be given to what I
term “small stands of trees” in our small island States.
Although we call them forests, to those who have very
large forests they are small stands of trees, but they are
important to us because they are critical and crucial to
soil fertility and therefore guarantee production and
productivity in agriculture, thereby promoting food
security and the alleviation of poverty.
Similarly, Saint Lucia welcomes the adoption of
the Nagoya Protocol on Access and Benefit-sharing
and is grateful to the Government of Japan for
providing an implementation fund for developing
9 11-51687
countries. We see that as a great opportunity to help
our communities to benefit from their biological
resources and the traditional knowledge associated
with them, so that they too can play their role in the
conservation of biological diversity. In accordance with
the declaration of 2011-2020 as the United Nations
Decade on Biodiversity, we urge all countries to work
closely together to conserve biological resources for
the present day and posterity.
The recently concluded High-level Meeting on
non-communicable Diseases provided an opportunity
to deepen relations and collaboration with Member
States, regional and international agencies and
development partners, and to share technical expertise,
best practices and resources as we continue to strive to
meet clearly defined goals and objectives. As a
member of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM),
which spearheaded this initiative, Saint Lucia wishes to
place on record its appreciation for the commitment of
all Member States, United Nations agencies,
particularly the World Health Organization, and other
interested groups in addressing the scourge of
non-communicable diseases. We nevertheless need to
set targets, implement programmes and measure
success if we are to make progress beyond just another
meeting.
Saint Lucia, like all of the other CARICOM
member States, is grappling with security threats
engendered by the illicit trade in small arms and light
weapons and trafficking in narcotics. The associated
rise in crime and violence involving the use of firearms
has had a significant adverse effect on the socio-
economic and human development of our countries.
Saint Lucia will therefore spare no effort in working
towards concluding an arms trade treaty that is legally
binding, robust and comprehensive; contains the
highest possible standard for the transfer of
conventional arms, including small arms, light
weapons and ammunition; is effective in regulating the
arms trade, particularly in preventing diversion; and is
universal in subscription.
Saint Lucia welcomes the Republic of South
Sudan as the most recent member of our community
and wishes it progress, peace and prosperity. We look
forward to welcoming the State of Palestine to this
body after successful negotiations have been
concluded. That is our hope.
The anachronistic, half-century blockade imposed
on the people of our neighbour, Cuba, suffocates that
people’s right to prosperity and progress. The outdated
mechanism’s illogical application does not fit twenty-
first century geopolitics, economics or
humanitarianism. We therefore add our voice to others
that have spoken before us in calling for an end to this
blockade and to all limitations on the rights of the
Cuban people to progress and prosperity.
In the spirit of the greater good, we are pleased
that, since 2009, Taiwan has been able to participate in
the World Health Association (WHA), in recognition of
the fact that global health issues require universal
participation and cooperation to overcome those major
problems that affect the peoples of every corner of the
globe.
Sustainable development, like health, is one of
those issues that require global participation and
cooperation. Taiwan is a leading economic and
technological powerhouse and can contribute
substantially not only to health but to a range of global
issues that face the world today. We urge the United
Nations to find suitable means to permit Taiwan to
participate in its specialized agencies and mechanisms,
including the International Civil Aviation Organization
and the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change all of which have worldwide
implications, along the lines of the WHA model.
Surely, 25 million people living on planet Earth can
contribute to this body of peoples.
In conclusion, the shifting sands are revealing an
international system on the brink of change. We are at
a moment when a decision taken here in this great
Assembly will reverberate throughout history.
Decisions taken here can create a State or divide a
State; they can bring peace or bring renewed conflict.
The theme for this general debate — “The role of
mediation in the settlement of disputes by peaceful
means” was well chosen. Let it guide our work this
year and beyond.